Is there any word on when regional carriers will be getting a WP8 device.

A lot of my family and friends are very interested in Windows Phone after seeing mine and the commercials. Most of them though are on C Spire and the only device they have is the HTC 7 Pro (HTC Arrive) for 50$ on a two year contract. (I doubt the phone even has 7.5 as the last time I went into a C Spire store the phone was running the CDMA update.)

No, no word yet, they are still trying to iron out wrinkles and supply chain for the Big Three. But HTC has been quite good at getting their phones to regional carriers in the past, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the 8X make its way there soon enough.

People, the problem with WP8 and regional carriers are the same why Sprint (along all their prepaid carriers and MVNOs), US Cellular, and MetroPCS. It comes down to coding and encryption to have SVDO running properly according to Qualcomm's (and soon FCCs) CDMA 2000 standards. SVDO requires 512bit encryption in order to have simultaneous data and voice on 2G, 3G EVDO, and 4G LTE due to the extra radio needed on devices to make this possible, while keeping network security up to par.

Microsoft uses 256bit encryption for CDMA which most carriers in the US will not touch for being obsolete (yes, we know Verizon has three devices, which two do not have SVDO capabilities, while the Lumia 922 although is SVDO ready it can only handle 1X Advance limiting voice and data to 2G).

You'll probably see WP8 devices on regional and prepaid GSM providers before Microsoft fully addresses the encryption issue they have with the current CDMA coding. I don't mention WP7 because the 256bit encryption is fine for the two CDMA devices that were offered (and most went the Sprint approach by choosing the Arrive/Pro 7)